The report analyses the state of the mobile money industry in 2012 and illustrates key findings from the programme’s Mobile Money Deployment Tracker, a database that monitors the number of live and planned mobile money services for the unbanked across the globe. The annual survey was developed to quantify the state of the mobile money industry and to enable mobile money providers to benchmark their performance.

The research shows the number of active mobile money users grew impressively; more than 30 million people undertook 224.2 million transactions totalling $4.6 billion during the month of June 2012 alone. This exceeds the 196.3 million transactions performed by Paypal customers on average each month during Q3 2012 1. The study demonstrates that the mobile money industry continues to expand at an unparalleled rate, with 150 live mobile money services for the unbanked, 41 of which were launched in 2012. In addition, the industry is also becoming increasingly competitive, with 40 markets identified as having at least two different mobile money services available.

“The social impact of mobile money is already well documented, and our report last year offered the first global benchmarks on how many customers were using mobile money,” said Chris Locke , Managing Director, GSMA Mobile for Development. “Following our second Mobile Money Adoption Survey, we are able to share deeper insights on the number of customers, on how customers are actually using the service and, perhaps more importantly, on how successful operators are positioning and managing mobile money to meet the needs of those customers.”

Rapid Growth, Particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa

The report counted 81.8 million registered customers globally and with the total number of deployments on a global basis growing by almost 38 per cent, an increasing number of deployments are also achieving significant scale. The report identified six services with more than 1 million active customer accounts and in the last 12 months, three of these services have crossed the 1 million active customers threshold. The number of active customer accounts is now growing rapidly which is a positive sign indicating that customers are realising the benefits from mobile money services.

There are 56.9 million registered customers in sub-Saharan Africa and in June 2012, there were twice as many mobile money users as Facebook users in the region. In terms of geographical spread, more than half of all countries in sub-Saharan Africa have live deployments and 37 per cent of the 166 mobile networks operators in the region have already launched mobile money. Mobile money services are available in 34 of the 47 countries in the region and penetration will continue to grow in the region, since the majority of planned deployments are also in sub-Saharan Africa.

Mobile Money Contributing to Financial Inclusion

Data within the report gives an interesting insight into the contribution of mobile money to financial inclusion globally. There are now more mobile money accounts than bank accounts in Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania and Uganda, and more mobile money agent outlets than bank branches in at least 28 countries. With over 520,000 registered agent outlets, there are now as many mobile money outlets as Western Union points of sale. Further, in some countries, the total value of mobile money transactions is equivalent to a significant proportion of the country’s overall GDP; in June 2012, it was equivalent to more than 60 per cent of GDP in Kenya, more than 30 per cent of GDP in Tanzania, and more than 20 per cent of GDP in Uganda.

Locke added, “As the mobile money industry is maturing, we can expect to see both the social and financial benefits of mobile money increase and will continue to track this fantastic progress.”

Methodology: Standardised operational metrics were supplied by 78 mobile money deployments from 49 countries. The full questionnaire including the list of metrics and their definitions is included in the report. The responses collected through this survey were checked for internal consistency, but all data all self-reported and were not verified independently by the GSMA.

Peace Through Tourism

How Travel & Tourism Can Help Restore the Balance in the Emerging New World Order

"The travel & tourism buzzword of the 21st century will be the search for balance."

That forecast was made by Imtiaz Muqbil, Executive Editor, Travel Impact Newswire, in the monthly strategic intelligence publication of PATA, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, way back in February 1999. Today, it is proving spot-on as the word "balance" resonates across all industry sectors.

Travel industry conferences seeking a speaker who can offer some unique historical hindsight, unconventional foresight and thought-provoking insight on how to rebuild and restore the balance in Asia Pacific travel & tourism can email Imtiaz Muqbil by clicking here.

There Can Be No Sustainability Without Spirituality

The New World Order will be dominated by a resurgence of spirituality.

Imtiaz Muqbil claims to be the world's only travel journalist to have visited the Holy Spots of all the major world religions -- Lumbhini, Bodhgaya, Varanasi, Nalanda, Jerusalem, Vatican City, Amritsar, Makkah, Madinah, Najaf and Karbala, as well as religious spots such as Angkor Wat, Bagan, Shwedagon Pagoda, Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Temple of The Tooth, Somnath Temple, Samarkand, Bukhara and many other great mosques, shrines, temples and cathedrals worldwide.

Sustainability, ecotourism and health & wellness travel have all become so 'yesterday'. Prepare for the new generation of travel in the New World Order and raise the bar of your next conference, management forum or seminar by hearing Imtiaz Muqbil's thoughts on this unmatched game- and life-changing experience.

==========

Secrets of Thailand's Tourism Success

Why the Amazing Kingdom is notching up record-breaking arrivals, and what challenges it faces next

The Thai tourism industry has become by far the Kingdom's most successful service sector, one of its leading job-creators and foreign exchange-earners. Behind this success lies a fascinating history of great branding campaigns, policy and regulatory changes, budgetary bunfights, strategic thinking and influence of Royal events.

But this success has now bred a new set of management challenges that may be more difficult to overcome.

Travel Impact Newswire Executive Editor Imtiaz Muqbil has been monitoring the pulse of the Thai travel industry full-time since 1981. Industry conferences and management meetings wishing to benefit from a treasure trove of insights and hindsights on one of the world's great tourism success stories can drop an email here: imtiaz@travel-impact-newswire.com.

============

The Rise of the Whistle-Blowers

For 15 years (January 1997-July 2012), Imtiaz Muqbil penned a hard-hitting fortnightly column called “Soul-Searching” in the so-called “newspaper you can trust”. In July 2012, the column was gagged, with no explanation.

Over the years, four columns had explicitly forecast the rise of whistle-blowers -- a prediction now coming 100% true. Read the four columns by clicking on the links below.

Too Bad Your Ad Is Not in This Spot

Space available for unique ads that demonstrate commitment to helping physically-challenged people, building global peace, improving social and cultural cohesion, providing opportunities for the under-privileged, alleviating poverty and combatting global injustice & corruption.

If your product is not meeting any of the above goals, please advertise elsewhere.

===============

News Vs Noise

A Unique Course for Travel & Tourism Communicators In The Internet Era

By far the vast majority of media communications in the travel industry is boring, banal and bland. The same way it has been for the last 30 years.

Travel Impact Newswire Executive Editor Imtiaz Muqbil has designed a special communications course to help upgrade both the context and the content of industry media material, and make it more interesting, readable and, most important, relevant.